Harry Potter belongs to JKR
Beta by FedererEx
Chapter 26
ABEL WINTHROP ASSASSINATED
Bellatrix's eyes widened as she scanned past the headline of the Daily Prophet; her gaze swung over to the head table and zeroed in on the vacant seat where Professor Frances Winthrop usually sat. Clanking silverware mixed with a smattering of chatter as the Great Hall slowly filled with hungry students. She picked up a piece of toast then returned her attention to the newspaper.
Dark Mark Spotted
Believed to be in retaliation for his recent outspoken support of the latest werewolf legislation amendments, Abel Winthrop (76) was found dead in his home early yesterday evening. The Dark Mark, the calling card of You-Know-Who's followers, was spotted in the sky above the residence. Aurors were immediately summoned to the scene, and the investigation is ongoing. In response, Winthrop's son, Frances, who is currently a professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, had this to say:
"My father died trying to bring this important legislation into effect, and I promise you this, his death will not be in vain. No cowardly attacks on our homes in the middle of the night will intimidate myself or my new colleagues in the Wizengamot from doing what is right, and what is just. To those who perpetuated this atrocity, know this: Your days are numbered. You will be hunted, you will be caught, and you will face justice for my father's death and the many other heinous crimes you have committed."
The legislation is already being called the Abel Winthrop Werewolf Equality Act, and it now seems more likely than ever to pass into law.
A picture of Professor Winthrop speaking and standing next to a slightly overweight Auror as photographs went off in their faces played in a loop.
Bellatrix glanced up from the paper towards the entrance of the Great Hall, but it was only a few random firsties entering for breakfast. She'd stayed up late the previous night in the lab, and then the tent, waiting for Hermione. Bellatrix ended up waking up in bed the following morning wearing her clothing from the previous day, with the other bunk still empty. This morning, the word all over school was that Harry Potter had visited Hogwarts and escorted Professor Winthrop from the castle.
"And it's obvious why," Bellatrix thought as she returned to the paper and had managed to scan down to where she'd left off only to spot someone else entering out of the corner of her eye. She glanced up again to see Hermione and Ginny making their way towards her. Her heart skipped a beat when Hermione gave her a small wave from across the room, and she fought the urge to break into a grin in return, forced herself to merely wave back and motion them over.
"I'm sure you've heard by now," Julia said as she slid the Prophet over to them as they sat.
"Harry only wrote a short note late last night," Ginny replied. Hermione picked up the paper and started reading, a serious and worried expression on her face.
"Seems Professor Winthrop is going to try to finish what his father started," Julia said, "look at what he said. He's definitely got guts, but I hope it means we aren't without a Defence teacher for the rest of the term. He's the best Professor at the school."
It was the truth, and that was saying something, coming from her.
Hermione let out a shuddering sigh as she continued to read.
"I think I might be sick," the bushy haired girl said.
Bellatrix looked at Hermione, the frown on her face, the defeated expression.
"It's not your fault," Ginny said, "Death Eaters killed him, not you."
"Logically, I know that," Hermione said, "still, if I hadn't asked Professor Winthrop to press his father on passing the amendment to the werewolf code…"
"That's right, I'd forgotten about that," Bellatrix thought.
"Talking about it might help," Julia said.
That was their code for Hermione's sessions with Madam Schultz. The muggleborn nodded.
"I'll think about it," she said.
Neville chose that moment to approach the table.
"Hullo Hermione, Ginny, Julia," he said, "space for one more?"
Bellatrix patted the empty spot next to her and Neville sat down and helped himself to some hash browns.
"Terrible, isn't it?" he said as he nodded towards the paper, while Hermione continued reading.
"After Voldemort was defeated, I thought that would be the end of it, but…, now I'm thinking about joining the Aurors too," Neville said, "it's not going to be over until they're all caught."
"Don't bother," Ginny said, "there's a waiting list of purebloods who already passed the Trials."
Neville gave Ginny a confused look.
"Harry told me about it," Ginny said, "Tracey Davis' cousin went through three years of training and the Trials, but he's not allowed to start work because there aren't enough muggleborn Aurors."
"That's… so I can't even…" Neville said with a puzzled look on his face, "well, I can still help. Next time you see him, let him know if he needs anything, anything at all… I still have my coin."
"I will," Ginny said with a nod.
Hermione put the paper down and caught Julia's eye with a surprised expression.
"You're in the Prophet," she said.
"What?" Julia said.
Hermione turned the paper around, which was opened a third of the way through, and Bellatrix saw her alias' name in a headline on page.
Who is Julia White?
Rita Skeeter
Shit.
Neville leaned over to read, and she couldn't push him away without looking suspicious, so they scanned the article together.
After a chance encounter in Diagon Alley, I had the pleasure of reacquainting myself with the Golden Girl herself, Hermione Granger. Affectionately known as the brightest witch of her age and the brains of the Golden Trio who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named nearly a year ago, she is responsibly completing her studies after returning to school. Accompanying Ms. Granger was another student from Hogwarts, one of the few transfer students in the school's history, Ms. Julia White. Since that fateful day, this reporter has endeavoured to discover more of this mysterious transfer student who has befriended our national treasure. According to interviews with her fellow students, she supposedly transferred from France, but despite numerous visits to the Continent and exhaustive research, this reporter was unable to find any record of a Julia White ever attending a magical school in Europe, or indeed, having ever lived in Paris or any of a dozen other magical communities in that country. Requests for information from Hogwarts' administration have gone unanswered except for some drivel about 'student privacy'. This begs the question, exactly how rigorous is the acceptance process at Hogwarts' School for Witchcraft and Wizardry? Who exactly is this enigmatic "student" who has befriended our beloved Hermione Granger? Why has Hogwarts remained silent on the matter, or are they hiding something more? How many other transfer students of dubious backgrounds are currently attending the school?
Bellatrix looked up from the article to find Neville staring at her intently, questioningly.
"Julia?" he asked.
"Shit, how do I get out of this one?" Bellatrix thought, "I swear, if Skeeter ruins this for me, I'm going to tear off bits of her and force feed them to her until she begs me to kill her!"
On the outside though, Julia's lower lip quivered and she put on a worried expression.
"I, I don't know," she said, "it's…"
"She's been obliviated," Hermione said quietly, "whole years of her life are just… gone."
Neville glanced to Hermione and then back at Julia, this time with concern and pity in his eyes.
"Hermione to the rescue," Bellatrix thought.
"She doesn't know who taught her magic or who obliviated her, only that she was home schooled, that's why there's no record of her at any magical schools in France," Hermione continued, "that's also why she's helping me with the project, so she can get her memories back."
"Merlin, I had no idea," Neville said, "I thought you were just, you know, private."
"I am private, sort of," Julia said, "but it's also a big question mark for me, and it's not really fun to think about so…"
Neville nodded, and Julia returned the paper to Hermione.
Bellatrix glanced to the head table, towards McGonagall, but the headmistress was engaged in conversation with Flitwick. If she investigated further, demanded additional proof of who she was, or worse, required she submit to veritaserum or legilimency inspection, Bellatrix would have to abandon everything and go on the run. She looked back to Hermione, who had buried her face in the paper once again.
"Damn harpy," Hermione muttered as she read through the article again.
"Stop insulting harpies," Julia said, and that earned her a small smirk.
"Honestly, there are Death Eaters assassinating people, and this is what she focuses on?" Hermione said as she smacked the paper. A small line formed between her eyebrows as she fumed, and Bellatrix felt a warm sensation fill her chest.
"She's angry, on my behalf," she thought.
It was the first time she could recall someone getting angry for her.
"She's single now," the thought popped into her head.
"She's muggleborn," she replied herself, but to her surprise, that barely caused a twitch.
"You don't even know if she fancies girls," she tried again, and that seemed to work better.
Immediately after Valentine's Day, Bellatrix had felt the slightest bit of remorse about nudging Hermione to break up with Ron, especially when she'd found her crying afterwards. It didn't take long before she'd come to the conclusion that they would have broken up anyway.
"Really, I did them a favour," she'd thought at the time.
If they were truly serious about staying together, her little suggestion wouldn't have led to a split, and if she hadn't been the catalyst, something else would have.
Still, she'd found herself thinking about Hermione more and more over the subsequent weeks. Even now, she watched as the bushy haired muggleborn, still reading, bit into a ripe peach and sucked at the fruit a little bit to keep the juices from overflowing.
Bellatrix felt another little flutter in her stomach and purposefully looked away.
"What is wrong with you?" she thought, but try as she might to stop it, her brain dove down the rabbit hole, the curve of Hermione's jaw, how her smile lit up her entire face when they made some progress on the project, the feel of her arms around her when they'd embraced, the sound of clothing rustling behind as she changed for bed, the ease at which they'd spent hours upon hours with each other on Christmas.
She knew this sensation, the feeling that while she was in her presence, everything was right with the world; it was exactly the same as when she'd started falling for the Dark Lord.
"Idiot, if you get close to her, you're going slip up and ruin everything," she thought, "you have a chance at a good life. If this cure is a success, you'll be famous and wealthy and… don't fuck this up, just keep your distance."
"Julia, are you coming?" Hermione asked.
Julia snapped back to the present to find Neville and Ginny already well on their way to the exit of the Great Hall. She grabbed her bag and fell into step with Hermione as they walked to Defence.
"I should have known Professor McGonagall would substitute for Professor Winthrop while he's away," Hermione said, "she seemed impressed with the progress we've made, that only shows he really is a brilliant teacher."
Bellatrix nodded her agreement.
"It's almost too bad," Hermione added, "it would have been nice to have a free period for a while."
"But we do," Bellatrix said, "Professor Winthrop's extra class will definitely be cancelled until he returns. It's too bad, last week's dark artefact was genuinely interesting."
Julie Parks had shown off a one-use rune stone which could erect a simple ward, but it was classified as Dark because it required a few drops of blood to activate. It would be perfect for makeshift barriers for any number of applications where a ward was needed but there wasn't time or expertise to craft a more permanent one.
Bellatrix fingered the stone in her pocket. There was still much to learn from the Dark Lord's shade, and she was eager to move on to the next secret.
"Oh, that's perfect, we can work on your patronus," Hermione said.
Bellatrix groaned. She'd managed to avoid the topic for nearly two weeks now. Every minute working on the patronus, the charm she knew she wouldn't be able to cast, was a minute she wasn't extracting the Dark Lord's trove of knowledge.
"Come on, you have to at least try," Hermione said, "and now you don't have an excuse."
It was the truth, and much as she knew it was a better idea to keep Hermione at arms' length, part of Bellatrix crowed in excitement at the chance to spend more time with her.
Bellatrix sighed heavily.
"Alright, but don't expect much," she said.
That evening, they found one of the many abandoned classrooms, and Bellatrix locked the door. Dust and a musty smell tickled her nose; apparently the room hadn't been used in years, possibly over a decade. She turned to face Hermione, wand in hand.
"Right, you know the wand movements of the spell, and the theory behind it, yes?" Hermione asked, using her 'teaching' voice.
"Of course," Julia replied. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
"Alright, I'll demonstrate first," Hermione said, "expecto patronum."
A thick white mist sprayed from the tip of Hermione's wand, but that was all, and it faded after a few seconds. Bellatrix raised an eyebrow.
"Err, that's embarrassing," Hermione said. She scrunched up her eyebrows and frowned in concentration.
"Expecto patronum," she said again, more forcefully, and this time a brilliant blue-white otter burst forth, and a feeling of warmth and happiness washed over Bellatrix.
"Hermione's happiness," she thought as she let the sensation fill her up. Hermione waved her wand in a skipping motion and the otter rolled and swam about the room, but Bellatrix only had eyes for the smile that lit up her face.
"I wonder what memory she's thinking of," she thought.
"Alright, your turn," Hermione said as the otter winked out.
Bellatrix send her wand through the complicated pattern for the charm.
"Expecto patronum," she said. Nothing, not even mist.
"Your wand movement is odd, it's a little bit high on the second flourish. Try it like this," Hermione said as she demonstrated the movement again.
Bellatrix followed suit, silently.
"No wait, that's not right," Hermione muttered as she frowned in concentration, "Harry made it look so easy…"
Hermione stood behind and to the right of Julia and took her wand hand to guide her through the motion. Her touch brought gooseflesh to Bellatrix's skin and her heart skipped a beat. Then she felt Hermione's breath ghost across her neck and Bellatrix snapped her head to the right to catch Hermione's eye.
"Chocolate brown," she thought.
"Sorry," Hermione said as she broke contact and took a step back, "it was easier this way."
"It's okay, you just… reminded me of something," Julia replied, "never mind."
She struggled to put the moment behind her and went through the wand motion again as Hermione watched.
"Yes, that's it, give it a try now," Hermione said.
She'd always thought of the Dark Lord when trying to produce a patronus, but that was completely off the table now. Instead, she thought of a time she'd played tea with Andy and Cissy, after she'd started Hogwarts but before either of them had, and before she'd met Lord Voldemort.
"Expecto patronum," Julia said, fully expecting nothing to happen, yet somehow still managing to be disappointed when she was right.
She frowned and tried again, trying to let the happiness fill her up like the instructions, and Hermione, said she had to. For twenty minutes she tried various memories, but nothing, not even mist.
"It needs to be a truly happy memory, something significant," Hermione said.
"I know," Julia said as she nearly threw her wand across the room, "this whole thing is pointless. I told you before, I don't have any truly happy memories."
"It's only been twenty minutes. I didn't think you were the type to quit so easily," Hermione said with a knowing smirk.
Bellatrix growled.
"Well I'm not giving up. I promised to teach you the patronus charm, and I meant it," Hermione said, "even if we have to make happy memories of our own."
"What? No," Bellatrix thought. Her little infatuation was already threatening to blossom into a full-blown obsession. Spending even more time with Hermione? Deliberately trying to make happy memories with Hermione? She'd blow her cover for sure, and then…
"Then everything will come undone," she thought.
"What about the project?" Julia asked weakly.
"Potion formula is done, now we're going to be waiting for them to brew between each round of testing," Hermione replied with the same knowing smirk, "we'll have much more free time than before."
Of course, Bellatrix knew this before she'd asked, and from her expression, Hermione knew she knew. She'd been hoping to use the extra time to drill deeper into the secrets locked within the Dark Lord's shade, but that might have to wait. Hermione smiled at her and she felt her heart skip a beat again. She swallowed.
"Okay," she said quietly.
Julia held her wand pointed directly at Hermione's forehead and nearly giggled at how her partner's eyes crossed. Four vials of their finalised potion rested in one of the school's old wooden racks on the table next to them.
"Only the date, now," Hermione said as she licked her lips nervously.
Bellatrix smirked.
"You don't trust me?" she said.
"I do, but… okay just do it," Hermione said as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Obliviate," Julia said, and the tip of her wand glowed soft white then faded.
Hermione blinked a few times.
"What was the date I told you just now?" Julia asked.
"I… oh it's right there," Hermione said as she looked up at the ceiling, "augh, that's so frustrating. Well, the obliviation worked. Hopefully I'm not missing anything else."
"I know what I'm doing," Julia said.
Hermione nodded but barely acknowledged her as she picked up the first vial, unstoppered it, and looked down into the swirling green-blue potion inside.
"Here goes nothing," she said and downed it all.
They waited a full minute for it to take effect.
"Moment of truth," Julia said as she aimed her wand again.
The Dark Lord's knowledge of spell creation had been essential in crafting the charm portion of the obliviation cure. She'd spent hours upon hours with Lord Voldermort's shade, grilling it in every manner she could conceive of to ensure the spell wasn't sabotaged in some way. Still, even though the charm itself was relatively simple, and even though she and Hermione had also helped craft and review it, there was still a very small chance they'd both missed something. That was why she wanted Hermione to test the charm on her first, but Hermione had insisted on being the first to undergo the experimental procedure.
"Vivica scopum," Julia said, and what looked like a small wave of heated air streamed from her wand.
Hermione closed her eyes.
"It feels odd, like something's worming around," Hermione said, "oh! April 22nd!"
"The day I found the Aevum in the sub-vault," Bellatrix thought.
"It worked!" Hermione said, "wait, is that right?"
"It worked," Julia said in disbelief, "and… you don't feel any side effects?"
Hermione shook her head slowly. They both looked at each other with mouths open for a second, then Hermione gave off a sort of half giggle, half laugh.
"I can't believe it worked," Hermione said, "quick you try now, maybe it only works some of the time."
Hermione drew her wand and pointed it at Julia.
"September 19th," Hermione said.
"Okay, September 19th," Julia replied as she, too, stared at the tip of the wand pointed at her forehead.
"Hold still," Hermione said, "obliviate."
And just like that, the date was gone. She knew Hermione had told her a date, but when she tried to think of it, there was nothing but a blank spot.
She shook her head and reached for the vial, swallowing it down in two quick gulps. It tasted like butterfly wings and peanut sauce.
"Now we wait," she said.
"What if everything comes back?" Bellatrix thought, "what if you remember all of it? Being married to Rodolphus Lestrange, torturing Longbottom's parents, killing Father and Sirius and Andy's daughter and Merlin knows who else. Fifteen years of dementors in Azkaban. Would it change who you are? Would you hate Hermione, if all your memories came back? Would you go mad again?"
Her stomach twisted and churned, and her palms grew sweaty; she couldn't tell if it was from the potion she just drank, or the apprehension at possibly getting all of her memories back, probably both.
"You're a good person," Hermione said, as if she could read her thoughts.
Julia looked at her questioningly.
"You're a good person," Hermione repeated, "you help others when you don't have to, and you're… well you're snarky but that's part of what makes you you. If this works and your memories come back, even if you're not proud of some things you've done, it doesn't change who you are."
"Of course," Julia replied, then she gave off a nervous laugh, "still.."
She took a deep breath.
"Okay," Julia said.
"Don't worry," Hermione said as she aimed her wand again, "Vivica scopum."
The date swam into her hearing, Hermione's voice as clear as her concerned visage only a metre away.
"September 19th," Julia said.
Hermione smiled, then she grew more serious.
"Do you remember anything else?" she asked.
Julia waited a moment, and to her relief and disappointment, nothing happened. She slowly shook her head, and Hermione's shoulders slumped.
"Her parents have been obliviated for a year and a half now, the cure needs to work on older obliviations to help them," Bellatrix thought.
"We knew the potion might need more time brewing to increase potency," Julia said.
"Right, one thing at a time," Hermione said, "finite."
The original memory vanished from Bellatrix's mind once again, but she still had the memory of the memory, which was almost as good.
"September 19th," she said with a smile.
"It works," Hermione said as she sat back in relief, "I can't believe it works."
She immediately opened a black notebook and started scratching out their results.
"Hermione… this is a major breakthrough," Julia said.
"Not yet," Hermione replied as she finished and closed the book, "we need… a testing schedule. We need to determine how far back obliviated memories can be cured, and how much increasing the length of the brew increases the potency of the potion."
"It obviously doesn't work all the way back," she added, "but… it is a very promising step."
They took turns obliviating and restoring memories until the potions wore off, and then kept the other two vials for the following morning. Then they started brewing another batch.
"What ingredients are we short of?" Julia asked as the cauldrons bubbled.
Hermione reached across the aisle to pick up another of the notebooks, and flipped through a few pages.
"The black filament's going to become a problem eventually; we only have so much and if we need the potion to be more potent, we'll need more. We can talk to Neville later," Hermione replied as she scanned their inventory, "and… we're almost out of will o' wisp essence. It's expensive too, but we can find some in the forest."
"Back into the Forest? We had so much fun last time I'm just itching to go again," Julia said, "when?"
"We have enough for a few more batches, so, by next week at the latest," Hermione replied, ignoring Julia's sarcastic remark as she closed the notebook with a thump.
"We should create two more obliviated memories today, to see if tomorrow's batch will work on them," Julia said.
Hermione nodded and they obliviated each other of two more dates, then left the potions on the rack overnight while they turned in.
The following morning, Julia finished up and stoppered another two vials while Hermione left hers to continue growing in potency as she laid out a planning schedule on one of the blackboards.
"Right," she said as she pointed to the colour coded calendar, "we have just under three months left. This is the most efficient way to determine how long the potion needs to stew to be able to act as a marker for the charm, for an obliviation of a given age. We'll plot the data on this graph and from that we should be able to start making predictions. I suspect it will be more or less linear, but we'll see."
Julia labelled the vials and set them in the rack, then inspected the chart, noting the brewing days and the potion completion days, as well as the days they would obliviate more memories.
"Makes sense," she said with a nod, "any idea what you want to use for test memories?"
They would have to use something that couldn't be predicted, but that they would be able to remember, and they would need lots of them.
"Not sure yet, but we'll think of something," Hermione replied.
Bellatrix entered the sixth-floor classroom to find Michaels already there waiting, wand in hand. She raised an eyebrow and locked the door behind her, then waved her wand over it to further seal it with a wordless colloportus. The unused classroom was perfect for them; although it once held desks, they had been long since removed, and the room now doubled as a makeshift storage space, with broken furniture piled in one corner, and worn tapestries and unused old carpets and tablecloths in another. The detritus made perfect ammunition for transfiguration into obstacles either to hide behind or to be flung about, to make duelling practise more interesting. Dark scorch marks already scarred the walls from their previous sessions.
"Hungry for more?" she said as she faced Michaels.
No sooner had he started to nod than Bellatrix snapped off a wordless expelliarmus, which Michaels managed to duck… only to catch a stinging hex in the forehead.
"Dammit!" he said as he clutched the red splotch.
"Just dodging and wordless counters today," Bellatrix said.
They started duelling, with Bellatrix circling the room and firing off stinging hex after stinging hex, hitting more often than not, but definitely less than before. The pathetic muggleborn was improving, whether he'd improve enough to do some damage in the tournament remained to be seen. She managed to land three hexes in a row and grit her teeth.
"He's not paying attention!" she thought, "flipendo!"
The sudden switch in spells caught Michaels off guard and the knockback jinx threw him clear through the air to land heavily on the pile of tapestries.
"Ow!" a little girl's voice said. Michaels scrambled to his feet, and with a slash of her wand, Bellatrix threw off the tapestries to reveal a small girl wearing dark robes with green trim.
"Levicorpus," Bellatrix thought, and the little girl flew into the air by her ankle, her robes falling down over her face.
"Wang?" Michaels said, "what are you doing here, you could have gotten hurt."
"Yes, do tell us why you're spying on our training session," Bellatrix asked as she approached, "who sent you, was it those three jokers?"
The girl pulled her robes down enough to see the tip of Bellatrix's wand pointed at her forehead, and Bellatrix recognized her as the little Asian firstie she'd rescued from a sticking charm earlier in the year.
"Wait, I wasn't spying!" the girl said as she put out one hand, as if that would stop any spell from Bellatrix Black.
The pureblood abruptly ended the dangling jinx and dropped the girl head first onto the pile of tapestries in an unceremonious heap.
"Accio wand," she thought with a growl, and the girl's wand flew out of her pocket and into Bellatrix's outstretched hand.
"Immittere," Bellatrix thought, and the girl was forcibly flung off the pile and thrown to the ground, but Bellatrix didn't stop there; she continued magically shoving her across the floor with her outstretched wand as she advanced, until she pinned the hapless first year against the opposite wall.
"Don't lie to me," Bellatrix said as she noted the terror in the girl's eyes.
"Good," Bellatrix thought.
"I wasn't, I swear," the girl said as tears started leaking.
Bellatrix cycled through a list of spells significantly more painful than she one she was currently maintaining, until she was rudely interrupted.
"Julia," Michaels said, "maybe we should hear what she has to say."
Bellatrix was about to hex him to shut him up, but then she remembered.
"Dammit, I have a role to play," she thought.
"Okay, fine," she said as she released her spell, "out with it."
The girl fell a few inches away from the wall as the magic pinning her there ended and spoke with a quavering voice.
"I just wanted to learn some more," she said, "it's for myself, I swear, nobody sent me."
Bellatrix scoffed.
"Are those Ravenclaws still giving you a hard time?" Michaels asked.
Bellatrix paused as a thought struck her.
"Wait, you're a mu..ggleborn, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, so?" the girl asked as she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand, almost daring her to say more.
"What's your name again? Are you in the tournament?" Bellatrix asked.
"Allison," she said as she stood up, "I didn't enter."
"Okay, you want to learn duelling then, eh? I'll teach you," Bellatrix said, "you can both learn the basics together, I suppose, but only if you join the tournament."
"Really?" Allison asked, almost as if expecting some kind of trick.
Bellatrix took a long, drawn out, and deliberate sigh.
"Yes," Bellatrix said, "but no whinging. You're going to work hard, and you're going to enter the tournament, and I swear to Merlin if anyone else finds out you've joined Michaels for these sessions, I'm ending them and you will most certainly regret telling. I'm not joking."
The girl nodded.
"Two's better than one," Bellatrix thought as she handed Allison's wand back, "and maybe I can even get a little bit of a workout later if it's both of them against me."
"Okay, like I was saying, dodging," Bellatrix said, "stand sideways to present a smaller target…"
"And Duncan Isaacs has caught the snitch, it's over! The final score is 240-180, Ravenclaw wins!" Dean Thomas' voice rang out over the stadium.
Bellatrix's eyes sought out Ginny, who was first to the ground on her faster broom. She spoke a few words to Madam Hooch and led the way to the Gryffindor changing room, but Bellatrix was fairly certain she saw the fury on her brow from all the way up in the stands. As a reserve, Julia was expected to join the team after every match, but quidditch seemed like such a distraction at the moment she considered not attending what was certain to be an unpleasant meeting. Ultimately, she decided she should be there.
"Better to keep options open and relationships safe," she thought.
Even from outside the tent, Bellatrix could hear Ginny's raised voice. She pulled open the flap to see her looming over Marcos and Wilkes, the two Gryffindor beaters, both of whom sat on a bench before her.
"Are you two actually beaters? Because it looked like your first bloody game out there!" Ginny shouted, "in case you've forgotten, it's your job to throw the opposing seeker off the snitch once it's been spotted."
She turned to one of them, Bellatrix recognized him as one of those three fifth years that started that escort service.
"Marcos, you had a quality bludger and you missed, but at least you were in position. Wilkes, you weren't even in the play," Ginny said as her voice evened out and her face began to return to its normal colour.
"I want double practices for both of you, starting tomorrow, until the match against Hufflepuff, no excuses," she said.
Both of the beaters nodded and murmured their agreement, probably glad they were still on the team after blowing the game. Ginny strode towards the blackboard at the opposite side of the tent. She dropped a hand onto Demezla Robins' shoulder in a comforting gesture as she passed. The dark-haired petite seeker took her face out of her hands, and stared with red eyes at the blackboard.
"The rest of you," Ginny said, and then she sighed and picked up a piece of chalk.
She wrote a few figures on the board, the chalk impacting with sharp clacks.
"Alright," Ginny said as dropped the chalk and turned to face them, "it's a tough loss, but we're not out of it yet."
"Yes, we should have won, but that's quidditch," Ginny said, "thank Merlin Ravenclaw lost to Hufflepuff in their first match, but now we absolutely have to win our final match against the Puffs to even have a chance at the cup. We'll need to win by fifty, and that's only if Ravenclaw loses to Slytherin in their final match, which isn't bloody likely, so we might have to win by more. Take tomorrow off, and then we're back at practice on Tuesday."
There were a few murmurs as the team broke up and the players hit the showers. Bellatrix left the tent without speaking to anyone.
"After all the shrinking and enlarging, my broom has definitely seen better days but who cares, it's not like I'll actually be playing," she thought.
The March sun shone brightly in the clear blue sky, promising warmer days to come as Hermione and Bellatrix walked down towards the greenhouses. Classes let out for lunch just as they arrived, and they waited for the younger students to clear before they entered. She reflexively inhaled the warm, earthy smell of the greenhouse. They spotted Neville and Professor Sprout at the far end, and a great clattering filled the air as pruning shears and trowels flew to shelves and drawers.
"Hi Neville," Hermione said, "do you have a moment?"
Neville glanced at Sprout, who nodded. He pulled his gloves off and set them on the nearest table, and Julia noticed his gaze linger on her for a few seconds as he approached.
"Hullo, Hermione, Julia," he said, "how goes the project?"
"It's going well, really well, actually," Hermione said, "we're going to need more Nostrandis."
She'd switched to the actual name of the black filament mould.
"Nostrandis Emperiosa," Neville said with a nod, "I'm keeping it in a dark box."
Their research, and Neville's herbology expertise, had identified the dark-coloured fungus as a key ingredient in the potion, but it wasn't something normally used for brewing. Longbottom led them to another greenhouse and into one of the storage closets.
"Close the door, it needs to be as dark as possible," he said.
Bellatrix pulled the door shut behind them, which left only a tiny shaft of light, whatever filtered through from the greenhouse. She blinked several times in an attempt to get used to the near total darkness. She heard the sound of a crate being moved, and then the popping of metal clasps.
Neville opened the lid, then hmm'ed.
"Bad luck, I think it might be spoiled," he said.
"Let me," Hermione said. Bellatrix watched as her barely visible silhouette dipped a hand into the crate.
"Yes, it's all crumbling," Hermione said with more than a little concern in her voice, "any idea why?"
"It likes dark, magic-rich environments. Maybe it's more sensitive to light than we thought," Neville replied.
"I know, but we can't exactly harvest it in pitch darkness," Hermione said as she felt around the crate, "I think there might still be some left at the bottom, yes, just a tiny bit."
She stood up and pulled her wand.
"I'm going to try something," she said, "Vermillious."
Red sparks sizzled out from the tip of her wand, illuminating the inside of the storage closet and both her and Neville's faces as they stared down into her hand and the small bit of mould resting in her palm. Bellatrix stepped closer, fully expecting to see dying Nostrandis, but it simply sat there in Hermione's hand.
"Is it maybe mixed with something else?" Julia asked. That amount of light should have sent it shrivelling and crumbling to dust.
"Try a lumos," Hermione said with a small smile.
Julia drew her wand and cast silently, lighting up the inside of the closet nearly as bright as day. All three of them squinted in the sudden brilliance, and the mould immediately crumbled and withered. Bellatrix's stomach did a little flip as she saw Hermione's triumphant grin.
"No, it's definitely our mould," the golden girl replied, "we can use the red light to harvest it."
"How did you…?" Julia asked.
"Lucky guess," Hermione replied, "some photographs need to be developed in red light, anything else will spoil them. Looks like our mould is the same, or at least similar."
"That's brilliant Hermione," Neville said, excitement clear on his face, "do you mind if I check to see if anyone's recorded that yet? We might just have made a discovery."
"Of course I don't mind," Hermione said as she smiled at Neville.
"That's good, I suppose," Julia replied, "where are we going to find more though? We already cleared out the dungeons, unless you want to try and infiltrate the Slytherin common room."
"It's probably too well-lit and maintained to be dark enough for it to grow, but I think I might know a place," Hermione said. The sparks faded as she frowned, leaving them in darkness again.
"Tell me again why we're in a haunted loo?" Julia asked.
"Colloportus," Hermione said and the door locked itself, and Julia raised an eyebrow.
Hermione turned to face Julia with a serious expression on her face.
"Do you still have that broomstick you've been shrinking?" she asked.
"Yes," Julia replied, her patience wearing thin, "why?"
"I know where we can find more black filament," Hermione said, "probably."
"It's far too bright in here," Julia said as she looked around the tiled bathroom.
Hermione wordlessly crossed in front of her and knelt by a sink at the far side of the room. She hissed a few syllables, and it took a second for Bellatrix's brain to catch on.
"Parseltongue?" she thought.
She pointed at Hermione with a confused expression.
"You're a-," she said, even as a brilliant white light glowed from the tap, and the sink began to descend into the floor.
"I'm not," Hermione said, as the sink sank, "Harry is, I just… memorised a few sounds when he, Ron, and I came down here during the battle."
"Of course," Bellatrix thought. She'd learned Potter was a parselmouth just like the Dark Lord, when she'd researched him. At the time she'd chalked it up as yet another sign of his great power.
"This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets," Hermione said, echoing Bellatrix's thoughts.
"Where Harry killed a basilisk," Julia said, "did that really happen?"
"Yes. We'll need the broom to get back out," Hermione said, seeming distracted, "remember to use red light only. Hopefully some of the mould has grown over the past ten months or so. See you at the bottom."
Hermione led the way into the now exposed pipe, stepped in, and slid down into the darkness. Bellatrix gave her a good thirty second head start, rubbed her sweaty palms, ignored her pounding heart, then followed her into the depths. Down she slid, over the muck and slime, deep beneath the castle. Eventually she shot out and skidded to a stop in another large tunnel, already lit dim red by Hermione's wand.
"Are you alright?" Hermione asked as she helped her to her feet, and Bellatrix felt the distinct desire to not let go of her hand. She fought the urge and smoothed out her robes instead.
"Just dandy, let's do it again," she said as she drew her wand and lit it with red sparks.
Hermione smirked and pulled out an opaque jar from her pouch, then held her wand up to light the way.
"Keep your eyes open for Nostrandis," she said as she popped the lid off the jar.
Hermione took the right side of the tunnel and Bellatrix took the left, but they didn't find any mould on the wall.
"Is there anything else down here, aside from the dead basilisk?" Julia asked.
Hermione shook her head.
"There wasn't, but you never know," she replied, "we'd better be careful."
They started walking, footsteps echoing across the dry stone tunnel, and Bellatrix started alternating her sight between the wall she was supposed to be scanning, and the figure of Hermione slightly ahead of her in the tunnel.
"Idiot, stop fantasizing," she thought, "she probably doesn't even like girls."
"Well, now's the perfect time to prove she's straight as an arrow, isn't it," she replied to herself.
"I'm bored," Julia said, "let's play a game."
"I hardly think this is an appropriate time or place for a game," Hermione replied, eyes diligently scanning the right side of the tunnel.
"There are no side tunnels, it's not like something's going to jump out at us," Julia said, "besides, if we don't do something, I'm going to start singing widdle twiddle fiddle and you definitely don't want that."
There was a moment of silence.
"Widdle twiddle fiddle, play me a song," Julia sang loudly, her deliberately horribly off-key rendition echoing off the walls.
"Honestly Julia!" Hermione said.
"Right, let's play 'who would you rather snog'," Julia said.
"Who would we-," Hermione said, "No. Can we focus please? I thought you were more mature than that."
"You thought wrong," Julia replied, "I promise I will be good, all day long…"
"I'm starting to regret bringing you down here," Hermione muttered.
"Regrets are for the weak, and besides, I have the only broomstick," Julia said and she took a deep breath.
"Ugh! Dean Thomas or Michael Corner?" Hermione asked.
"Boring," Bellatrix thought.
"Ha, Victory. Corner," Julia replied, "Hagrid or Flitwick?"
Hermione paused and turned to face Julia, the red glow from their wands lighting up her features.
"You're really twisted, you know that?" she said, "and it's Professor Hagrid, and Professor Flitwick."
"Don't care, you have to pick," Julia replied.
Hermione turned back to the wall and continued walking, and Julia audibly inhaled to prepare to sing another verse.
"Flitwick, ugh, I want to take a shower just saying it," Hermione said.
"Makes sense. You never know, one thing might lead to another and our beloved Care professor is probably maximally endowed," Julia said.
"Oh my god!" Hermione said; this time it was her voice echoing off the tunnel.
"I'm going to keep going until you give me some names to pick from," Julia said, "I wonder if it's more like a calf, or a thigh."
"Michaels or Karume?" Hermione said quickly.
"Hmm, probably Karume, Michaels is too much of a wimp," Julia replied.
"Time for the test," Bellatrix thought.
"Longbottom or Davis?" Julia asked.
There was a pause.
"Tracey Davis?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, Neville Longbottom or Tracey Davis?" Julia repeated.
"But she's a…" Hermione said, "and Neville's my friend."
"So what, you have to pick," Julia said.
Hermione didn't say anything.
"Come on, there's no one down here but us, and it's not like you're proposing," Julia added.
"Davis," Hermione said finally.
"No! No… this backfired spectacularly," Julia thought.
"Yesss, we have a chance!" Bellatrix immediately crowed back. Her heart thumped loud enough she half-expected Hermione to mention it.
"What?" Julia asked, trying to sound surprised rather than eager, "Davis, over Longbottom? Didn't you see him in the greenhouse?"
"I know, I was there, but there was this time in the hospital wing…" Hermione said, then trailed off.
Bellatrix held her breath, waiting for Hermione to continue.
"Davis or Longbottom?" Hermione said suddenly.
"Hey! You can't use the same two," Julia said.
"I don't care, you have to pick," Hermione said as she rounded on Julia and used her own words against her, red sparks held up high.
Cheeky.
"Say Davis, let her know you wouldn't mind snogging a girl!" Bellatrix thought.
"Say Longbottom, keep her at arm's length or she might figure you out!" Julia thought.
There was a long pause as Bellatrix looked Hermione dead in the eye and the muggleborn awaited her response.
"Davis," Bellatrix said.
Hermione didn't say a word, and Julia didn't start the next round, even though it was her turn. The moment stretched on and on, until Hermione abruptly turned on her heel and continued down the passage.
"It's a stupid game, for little girls," she said quietly from ahead.
"Let's play a game for big girls instead then," the thought shot through Bellatrix's mind, but she hesitated, and the moment passed when they came to a partially collapsed portion of the tunnel. Hermione squeezed through a small opening. Bellatrix followed, but as she felt the stones claw at her robes, she imagined the thousands of tons of rock above her crashing down, crushing her bones, and fought down a surge of panic. She quickly dragged herself through and shook off the brief phobia. They continued on as the tunnel twisted and turned, until finally it ended at a wall with a carving of two entwined serpents.
"I'd really hoped to have found some before getting here," Hermione said. She made the same hissing sound as she did to open the sink, and the serpent door folded back with a heavy grating sound to reveal the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.
Dripping sounds echoed from within the Chamber, which was completely dark except for the red glow of their wands. They passed by large stone serpent heads and into the chamber proper, a large underground cavern which stretched up into the darkness. Set against the back wall was a massive statue, Salazar Slytherin, if her guess was correct. Bellatrix spotted a few bones towards one side of the room.
"Is that the basilisk Harry killed?" Julia asked as she walked closer, her voice echoing off the walls despite the quite tone she used.
"Yes," Hermione replied, "he saved Ginny's life during our second year."
"They got together then?" Bellatrix asked.
"No, not until sixth year," Hermione replied.
Bellatrix let out a puff of air.
"Certainly took their time," she said as she walked towards the skeleton.
More bones came into view, dozens of them.
"It's huge," Julia said, as she stepped around and over the bones, "are any of the fangs left? Basilisk venom is rare."
"Unfortunately, no. For better or for worse, Harry opened the chamber after the battle and donated all of the venom to the school, to help with the repairs," Hermione replied.
"What a waste," Bellatrix thought as she surveyed the skeleton.
She continued walking and tried to imagine the basilisk, alive, and trying to fight something like that at age twelve.
"This is impossible," she said, "how did he manage to even fight something like this, much less kill it? And you can't even look at it or it'll kill you instantly!"
She looked up to notice Hermione had stopped and was staring off into space.
"Hmm? Oh, with a sword, believe it or not," Hermione replied.
Bellatrix filed that away for a future conversation, right now she was more interested in what Hermione was looking at.
"Is something there?" Julia asked.
Hermione shook her head.
"No, it's just… that's the spot Ron and I had our first kiss," she replied. The corners of her lips tugged downwards as she lost herself in thought.
"Useless boy," Bellatrix thought.
"Forget it," Julia said, "we're here for your parents, remember? Let's spread out and hope we find some filament."
"Right, the black filament," Hermione said as she blinked a few times.
They split up and scoured every corner of the chamber. The shadows flickered and jumped by the red light of their wands, and twice Bellatrix thought she saw something, but it turned out to be only her imagination. Then she spotted a shadow that didn't vanish when she held her wand over it, in a crevice in the back of one of the carved statues.
"Here!" she said as she reached out and picked up a clump of mould. Tendrils clung to the stone as she pulled it away; with luck, they would eventually regrow into a new clump. Hermione's footsteps approached; she already had the jar open, and Julia dropped their prize in. They spread out again and found a few more patches, and carefully scooped them all into the jar. Another twenty minutes went by and they didn't find any more.
"That's all of it I think," Hermione said as she sealed the jar and returned it to her pouch, "we have enough for now, but unless we have some unexpected success while testing, I think we'll need to find more later, or figure out a way to cultivate it."
"We could try searching old cathedrals," Julia replied.
"Muggle cathedrals?" Hermione replied with a questioning expression, "Nostrandis Empirosa prefers growing in magic rich environments."
"Err, I read that wizards used to use muggle cathedrals for rituals, years and years ago," Julia replied, "there might still be enough magic left on the stones for it to grow, in secret passages and such."
In actuality, Rod had shown her the catacombs and secret passages in a cathedral the Lestrange family used for rituals during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in a failed attempt to impress her. It would be the perfect place to search for more black filament mould.
"Hmm," Hermione said, "well, it's an option at least."
Bellatrix shivered as she felt a chill go up her neck.
"Let's get out of here," she said.
They made their way back down the passage, and this time Bellatrix didn't say anything as she alternated between imagining a miniature Harry Potter stabbing a basilisk with a sword (a sword?), and fighting the urge to take Hermione's hand in hers.
"There's nobody else down here, just do it," she thought, "she practically asked you to earlier when she chose Davis."
"You're going to fuck everything up," Julia thought back, "don't do it."
She fought this internal war all the way back to the pipe.
"Now we need the broom," Hermione said.
"Just curious, what if this doesn't work?" Julia asked as she pulled the broom out of her pouch, set it on the ground, and went about enlarging it to its usual size.
"Well… I suppose then I send Harry a patronus and tell him to come rescue us," Hermione replied, "which would be extremely embarrassing."
Bellatrix raised an eyebrow.
"You just gave me the power to embarrass you," she said.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Honestly Julia, this isn't the time," she said.
For a second, Bellatrix considered using her newfound leverage to coerce Hermione into… something, but then she remembered they'd be sharing a broom, and the thought of Hermione wrapping her arms about her waist sent her stomach through a series of backflips. She swung her leg over the broom and stared at the gaping entrance of the large pipe in front of them. Hermione mounted behind her, and Bellatrix's stomach muscles tightened reflexively as the muggleborn hugged her from behind.
"Try not to move around too much, and I'll try not to bump our heads," Julia said quietly.
"Ginny says you're a good flyer," Hermione said, her breath caressing the edge of her ear.
Bellatrix did her best not to shiver, and then to ignore Hermione's proximity…her body pressed to her back, her hands on her waist… and kicked off slowly. She took them carefully up the pipe, literally practising occlumency in an attempt to ignore the other person on the broomstick with her and also to avoid bumping the sides and especially the ceiling; getting knocked off the broom would send them sliding all the way back to the bottom. With the charms on the broomstick as weakened as they were, manoeuvring was more difficult than it should have been and it took them the better part of an hour to wind their way back to the girls' lavatory. No sooner had they exited the tunnel when it neatly closed behind them. By then, the acute backflips her stomach were doing had turned into a familiar warm coiling sensation deep in her belly, and Bellatrix wondered how Hermione didn't notice it through her robes. They set down neatly on the tiled floor.
"Success," Hermione said as she dismounted. Bellatrix followed suit, her legs stiff from having been in the same position for so long.
"Reducio," she thought as she waved her wand to shrink her broom again, then returned it to her pouch.
"Well that was fun, let's do it again," Julia said.
"Masking your true desire with sarcasm, how boring and predictable," Bellatrix thought to herself, "plus I think that's the third time you've said something like that today, double boring points for repetition."
Hermione chuckled.
"I know you're joking, but we're going to have to find some more eventually," Hermione said.
"That's a job for another day," Julia said, "I need a shower; I feel like pipe slime."
She sniffed the inside of her robes.
"I smell like pipe slime," she said.
As she scrubbed down in her stall several minutes later, it was with a growing sense of dread as her thoughts turned again to Hermione, whose splattering of water she could hear just two stalls away. The knowledge that Hermione stood a mere ten feet away, naked, with water streaming over her, and there was nothing Bellatrix could do about it, was enough to drive her mad.
"You've got it bad," she thought as she rinsed.
"I'm almost beyond caring," she thought back, "I like thinking about her, wouldn't mind spending hours..."
She stopped with her eyes closed and the water beating down on her skull.
"What if you fuck it up, what if she finds out who you really are?" she thought.
She took a long steadying breath as an image of a supremely disgusted and betrayed look on Hermione's face crossed her mind.
"We'll just have to make sure she never finds out," she thought back, "worst case, we can always obliviate her."
She heard the water turn off in the other stall, and quickly finished up to meet Hermione on the way out of the showers, but apparently not quickly enough as she heard the other stall door open followed by a few squelching footsteps.
"Julia? I'll see you in the tent," Hermione said.
"See you," Julia replied, hoping her voice didn't sound too strained.
She turned off the water, towelled off and wrapped her hair, threw on her bathrobe, and stepped out to face the long mirror over the sinks. She gazed at the features she'd constructed for herself, pretty, but not nearly as striking as her own.
"Did you see the way she looked at us when she said she'd snog Davis?" she thought.
She swallowed as she recalled Hermione's face, lit red in the sparks from their wands.
"And she all but insisted on making happy memories with us, come on, does it need to be more obvious?" she thought.
Worry of rejection and how strained their relationship would become if she came on too strong, let alone the risk of exposing her darkest secret, washed over her. She bowed her head and stared down at a small crack in the otherwise pure white sink.
"You're seeing something that's not really there," she thought, trying to convince herself, "just stay away, don't fuck this up."
She hit her slippers with a drying charm as she left the showers.
"It would be good to catch her before she turns in though, at least say goodnight," she thought as she walked across the hall, "it's only polite, after all..."
Bellatrix turned the stone over three times.
It had occurred to her over a week ago that the secrets the dead took to their grave were true power, especially if the dead were exceptionally gifted themselves. The Dark Lord had dedicated his life to creating and acquiring powerful and unique spells and rituals, and by all accounts, there was only one wizard he truly feared.
"Albus Dumbledore," she thought, but nothing happened, no shade appeared.
She slammed a fist down on the table the Room had conjured for her. The spirits she could summon were limited to just a few: her parents, her cousin Regulus, and the Dark Lord. None of the deceased Death Eaters, nor her cousin Sirius or her niece, Andromeda's daughter, would show. She thought it might have something to do with how close she was with the spirit in life, but that didn't make sense because she'd been far closer to Sirius than Reggie.
"Stop wasting time, you might as well learn something else from the Dark Lord," she thought as she turned the stone over again, "Lord Voldemort."
The Shadow appeared on the wall and ceiling, writhing in displeasure as it attempted to tower over her. In their last session, she'd compelled the Dark Lord to reveal what kinds of obscure and powerful magic the he'd learned in life. She'd also learned from it that Harry Potter was the master of the Elder Wand. She'd surmised that the third Hallow, the Invisibility Cloak, also existed, but neither she nor the Dark Lord had any idea where it could be. Tonight though, she had her pick of rituals and techniques to try and learn, including creating Inferi, the Dark Mark, Possession, the Taboo, broomstick-less flight, limb replacement, and rituals to increase reflexes and raw magical power. Out of all of them, flight without a broomstick, and the rituals (depending on what the cost would be) seemed the most intriguing to her.
"How many steps are there in the ritual to increase a caster's reflexes?" Bellatrix asked.
The Shadow hissed, an angry, railing sound.
"Four," it whispered.